ultimate ascend customization guide.

My goal for this guide is to walk you through everything from rooting to flashing the latest roms for the Huawei Ascend.

all files are the exact ones i used to flash and test all roms and apk here. files will be accredited to their source.

a few things need to be addressed first though.

though the flash process is the same for all roms i am posting full step by step for each to make it easy to flash any given rom with no experience.

I did not make any of these roms or the custom recovery (cwm) or app managing (titanium backup) software. i have however used them to much extent. i also use all the apps i link to.

i found all the info contained here on this forum (and prepaidandroids.net) and want to make the experience easier for the new ascenders.

if you know what you want to do just scroll and look for the big red name of the rom or customization you are looking for, each one will be it's own post, excluding this one as i'm including how to root and remove bloatware after this bit.

i tried to make this as simple as possible, all you should have to do is follow directions as you read them step-by-step.

first things first. grab the stock recovery just in case you need to/want to flash back to stock--------> http://androidforums.com/ascend-all-things-root/282038-how-flash-huawei-ascend-stock.html
have fun and enjoy!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------HOW TO ROOT YOUR ASCENDthis is necessary if you want to remove bloatware and useful if you have free apps you want to keep after flashing custom roms

open the "file manager" app on your phone and look in "downloads" open the z4root.apk and select install.

once it's installed open it and tap "permanent root"

wait till it reboots and now your rooted!
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------HOW TO REMOVE BLOATWARE

first root your phone (see above)

There are a few apps that will let you remove the bloatware (metro and cricket apps) from your phone. the most notable advantage of this is extra memory for other apps but the best reason is the battery metro users will save by getting rid of boingo and metrowifi.

i don't have cricket so i will expand the list as a ask my chirpy friends to help.

[size6]UPDATE FOR METRO USERS RUNNING STOCK 2.2[/SIZE]
well metro tried to screw us again, my friends.... but we got them good.
they hid some metro apps from most bloat removers so heres what you need to do.

open the cwm.zip and extract the files
open the cwm folder
open the following files (you may see the dos box open briefly, this shows it worked all file are labeled according to os, choose for your os)

icarus1.1 is a stock ROM developed and released by Isaacj87. it is, in essence, a striped down version of the ROM (basically the operating system) that came with your phone. this means there are no known bugs once it is set up.

copy your sd to the computer in a folder called "phone" or whichever one you may already have.

eject your phone (windows right click and select eject, mac special click and do the same) and power off.

boot cwm again.

scroll to "advanced" and select it

select "partition sd card"

select desired partition size (this is the space you are allowing for the apps to be moved to) 512M is roughly half a gig and 1024M is just under 1gig when in use. i haven't tested past 1024M

set swap size to 0

the phone will do some stuff and eventually it will say partition complete.

press back untill you are at the first screen and select "reboot system now"

once you are booted reconnect to your computer and move the contents of the folder you copied earlier to your now empty (and according to your pc slightly smaller) sd card.

use market to re-download titanium backup and grab "teminal Emulator" by Jack Polvich.

go to your app drawer and open "Terminal"

type the following {space} means press the space bar and {enter maens press the enter button.

su{enter}- a prompt to allow super user permission will appear. press allow
a2sd{space}check{enter}- if you get an error stop and pm me
a2sd{space}zipalign{enter}- stuff happens
a2sd{space}reinstall{enter}- phone may reboot it's self after this. if not then reboot manually (turn phone off and on)

after boot if you have a problem (market and other apps disappearing) restore your backup.

boot cwm
select backup and restore
select restore.

reboot system

run the terminal commands again.

if all is good open titanium backup

you should now see a new bar at the bottom labeled sd(a2sd) with a small amount taken up. this shows that your apps have moved to sd. all apps will now save to the sd partition.

Overview- CM7 is a custom port of Android 2.3 Gingerbread. it is not expected for Huawei to EVER release 2.3 for the ascend. CM7 is a work in progress as of today (4-19-2011) and some things are not worked out but will be in the future. future updates for CM& will be free but priority will be placed upon new customers first. i will alert you to any updates via email to set up appointments.

Features-

Brand new Boot screen no more metro pcs stuff.

All Bloatware (metro cps stuff, boingo, etc) removed

3x faster than stock

Option to over clock (speed up) cpu to 710mhz from 600mhz

Stock with 2.3 launcher.

Many User Interface options

Apps2sd move select apps to the sd card to free up phone memory.

Power Control in the drop down status bar (turn on and off at will: wifi,bluetooth,synch,gps. Adjust: screen timeout, brightness, ringer settings. other options available)

hold the power button until a menu pops up and select "reboot" then "recovery"

once in recovery mode select "install .zip from sd card

select the DTapps2sd zip

when its installed go back to the main menu of CWM

scroll to and select "mounts and storage"

select "format sd card"

go back to the main CWM menu and select "advanced" then "partition sd card"

i set mine at 512mb with a 32mb swap.

reboot your phone

after boot please look in the Icarus 1.1 section to get a feel for A2SD commands in the terminal emulator. i ran the ones listed there for my set up but have been told that the apps are moved when you flash the .zip. a good way to check is to just peek into Titanium Backup and check memory use.

i have a few things you might like after flashing your new rom or just rooting your phone. here ya go!

AndRoot- androotfile.apk -- i don't remember where i got this but it's the file explorer i use to move files and change my boot screens. very simple to use and can even move apps straight to the system>apps section of your phone for force installs. it does not work on icarus1.1

froyo+ rom- Froyo+ 2.zip -- this is neat to play with but it is insanely buggy. a port of the c8500 2.2 rom. it gets uim errors which lock the phone so i don't recommend actually using it, thus why i didn't post the step by step. use at your own risk.

metamorph- http://www.mediafire.com/?dwsuw4czf72y15k --this will make the froyo+ rom fail! this is an app that lets you make custom themes for icarus (i havent tested on the cm mods) i only have one edit for it (i believe i got it from SeptembersRain, the edit i mean)

iMod edit- Imod-EDIT.zip --this is for metamorph, it is a nice little edit of the battery gauge

ok, i'm 99% done. thank you guys for not flooding me with posts about how it's not complete and thanks for the thanks.

in the future please just press the "thank" button at the bottom of my post.

i will continue updating the apps area and will soon add an over view for cm6.

thanky you Isaacj87, pip2kk, 209pcs, kskull(forgot your numbers), dark tremor and all the people who test the roms for the devs. your work is under appreciated by most but i really admire you and your dedication. thank you.

i tried a few different onces and that's not my issue. somehow the apk associated with the files I want to remove are no longer there, so they can't be removed. (for example, removing UNO gives me the error)

i tried a few different onces and that's not my issue. somehow the apk associated with the files I want to remove are no longer there, so they can't be removed. (for example, removing UNO gives me the error)

Click to expand...

Are you rooted? You have to be rooted to uninstall system apps. (bloatware)

try using androot from the last post of the guide and going into system>app and deleting manually.

Click to expand...

now i'm getting somewhere. i see a bunch of apk files here. just as an example, can't find the uno.apk or anything like it. i deleted richpad.apk and it has disappeared. I dont know how the other stuff might be named tho

now i'm getting somewhere. i see a bunch of apk files here. just as an example, can't find the uno.apk or anything like it. i deleted richpad.apk and it has disappeared. I dont know how the other stuff might be named tho

is it possible it is in another location for this phone?

Click to expand...

i'll look into that for you tomorrow message me if you get an answer befor i get back to you.

I have a question. Is anyone else in the Vegas area? I'm confident enough to root and am enjoying the bennies of it, but want to try cm6 or 7. I loved the tutorial, but know when to stop and ask for help. I'd love to learn Modding, but I'm more a hands on learner then book or tutorial.